72 CHAPTER 2 / NUMBER SYSTEMS, BINARY ARITHMETIC, AND CODES
alphabet letters, and a variety of printer and typewriter control abbreviations. An eighth bit
(not shown) is often used with the ASCII code for error detection purposes.
Another common character code is known as EBCDIC (pronounced “ebb-see-dick”),
the acronym for extended BCD interchange code. It uses 8-bit BCD strings so as to encode
a 256-character set.
FURTHER READING
Literature on number systems and arithmetic is extensive. Many journal articles and most
texts on digital logic design cover these subjects to one extent or another. Portions of this
chapter regarding number systems are taken from contributions by Tinder to The Electrical
Engineering Handbook, cited here. Recognized classic ...